Injection is a relatively common drug dosage form. vial and ampoule are both the packaging of injection preparations, but they are very different in shape, material and use. Today, let’s take a detailed look at the difference between vial and ampoule and their use methods.
What is a vial?
vial, also known as borosilicate glass or sodium calcium glass, is a small-capacity medicinal glass bottle sealed with butyl rubber plug. vial is a common packaging form for oral liquid and injection, which has many advantages. In the early days, penicillin was widely used in vial, hence the name vial is a glass bottle used to hold medicine. This glass bottle has excellent sealing and firmness, so it is very convenient to use.
There are brown vial, transparent vial, etc. Borosilicate vial is the mainstream product on the market.The bottleneck part is thin, and the thickness below the bottleneck is consistent. The mouth of the bottle is slightly thicker than the bottleneck and slightly thinner than the body of the bottle, which is generally used for the packaging of vaccines, biological agents, powder injections, freeze-dried and other drugs. vial can be directly pulled off the cap to extract the liquid, which is very convenient for clinical use and can prevent the contamination of the liquid by the particles of glass and grinding wheel during the opening of the ampere bottle.
Vial’s specifications
So what is the specification and size of vial? The specifications and sizes of vial are basically 2ml, 5ml, 7ml, 10ml, 12ml, 15ml, 20ml, 30ml, etc. This is mainly used as medicine packaging, including oral liquid bottles, injection bottles, health products, freeze-dried powder, etc. Now it is also commonly used in the filling of cosmetics and contact lens water, such as collagen bottles, etc., and the bottle body is coupled with screen printing or gold stamping, highlighting the grade of the product.
In addition, the specification and size of vial should be set according to the amount and usage of drugs.
Vial‘s features
1. vial is widely used in the packaging of various dosage forms in the pharmaceutical industry due to its excellent physical and chemical properties such as good chemical stability, heat resistance, mechanical strength, smoothness, transparency, easy cleaning and disinfection, good sealing performance, etc. Full capacity, 20ml-500ml, etc., to meet the needs of different customers for different capacities. vial packaging has good light avoidance, especially dark and brown vial packaging, which is also very important for some light-sensitive drugs.
2. vial has a thick wall, is not easy to break, and has no sharp parts. It can prevent collisions during transportation, which can better protect drugs.
3. vial pharmaceutical process can achieve fully enclosed operation, which is not polluted by the external environment and prevents the entry of bacteria, which is very important for the packaging of medicine bottles. Therefore, the medicine bottles prepared are of relatively high quality.
4. There is a ring-shaped concave groove 3cm below the vial cap. The appearance of this concave groove makes the commonly used support frame and needle-nose pliers stable, and the vial is convenient and quick, and the vial will not fall off easily because the vial is too smooth.
Usage method
Before opening vial, the surface of vial was disinfected with 75% alcohol cotton. Under sterile conditions, the aluminum cap was opened in the direction of the arrow on the aluminum cap, the aluminum cap was torn open, and the vial plug was opened. All vial are autoclaved after use and can be discarded.
What is an ampoule?
ampoule(ampoule/ampule) is a small, fusible, rigid glass container often used to store injectable drugs, vaccines, serums, etc. There are two commonly used straight neck and curved neck. The capacity is generally 1 ~ 25ml. ampoule bottles were also used in oral liquid packaging in the past, but are no longer popular because they are difficult for consumers to open and cause accidents. ampoule was first used to hold samples of the blood of the deceased.
Production requirements
1, ampoule glass should be colorless and transparent;
2, small expansion coefficient, good heat resistance;
3, to have enough physical strength to withstand the high pressure difference generated during autoclave sterilization;
4, high chemical stability, does not change the PH value of the solution;
5, low melting point, easy to melt sealing;
6, no bubbles, pitting and sand.
Usage and potential problems
Before opening, use the grinding wheel to cut scratches at the bottleneck, disinfect the bottleneck, put the nipple up, so that all the liquid flows into the bottle, and then break the bottleneck. The flexible ampoule marks the manufacturer’s pre-cut area at the nipple, and snaps the nipple directly in this direction.
Modern ampoule is fired in glass tubes and is widely used to hold injectable preparations and high-purity chemicals that must be kept out of the air. ampoule’s nipples are sealed with an open flame to keep out air, and the neck is marked so that it snaps when pressure is applied to extract the liquid. Some ampoule bottles can be opened by cutting a scratch at the neck with a grinding wheel, disinfecting the neck, turning the nipple up so that all the liquid flows into the bottle, and then breaking the neck. The flexible ampoule marks the manufacturer’s pre-cut area at the nipple, and snaps the nipple directly in this direction.
Due to the special handling of ampoule bottles during use, some problems arise, such as:
(1) Defective ampoule or incorrect operation may result in breaking the nipple or even the bottle body when opening the ampoule, resulting in injury to medical personnel and possible contamination of glass fragments into the solution.
(2) Particles of glass and grinding wheel during ampoule opening will lead to contamination of liquid medicine.
(3) When the straight neck ampoule is broken by the nurse, a lot of invisible glass debris will fall into the medicine, causing the recipient to rupture platelets, and once the particles enter the heart with the blood, it will even cause death. The neck ampoule is easy to fold, the incision is neat, and the glass debris is less, which is the only medical ampoule allowed to be used at present. However, the glass still needs to be broken when it is used, so there is still a risk of the above problems.
The difference between a vial and an ampoule.
1. The first difference between ampoule and vial is its appearance, which is very obvious. The neck of the ampoule bottle is relatively thin, the neck has a score or color ring, and the upper end of the neck has a designated break point.
2, ampoule bottle is fused sealed, that is, the glass bottle is fused under the flame. The vial is sealed with rubber stopper and aluminum-plastic composite cap.
3, ampoule bottle generally holds liquid preparations, and vial generally holds freeze-dried powder.
4, ampoule bottle is sealed in one body, the glass is thin, and the bottleneck is broken directly when it is used. vial glass is thick. In addition to rubber stopper, there is usually a layer of aluminum-plastic composite cover on top. The vial is sealed with a glue stopper and is thicker than ampoule.
5, ampoule bottle filling sealing need flame hot melt machine sealing, vial need electric or pneumatic capping machine locking.
6. ampoule bottle is mainly used to store vaccines, while vial can store powder substances. At the beginning, ampoule bottle was mainly used to hold blood samples of the deceased, which can often be found in some Roman tombs and Christian tombs. This way has also become a relatively common custom, and people can see this kind of blood samples in many places.
7. The mainstream products on the market are mainly vial made of silica gel material, and the most common vial is mainly brown and transparent, while ampoule bottle belongs to the fully sealed type from the packaging type, which is mainly used to hold small glass containers of pharmaceutical liquid, and there are certain regulations on the capacity.
